Unified communications (UC) is a commonly used term for the integration of disparate communications systems, media, devices, and applications. UC potentially includes the integration of fixed and mobile voice, e-mail, instant messaging, desktop and advanced business applications, Internet Protocol (IP)-PBX, voice over IP (VoIP), presence, voice-mail, fax, audio/video/web conferencing, unified messaging, unified voicemail, whiteboarding (i.e., application sharing), and other modes of communication (or modalities) into a single environment offering the user a more complete but simpler and more effective experience. The purpose of UC is to reduce human latency in business processes, which is defined as the time it takes to initiate appropriate steps after being alerted to a particular issue. One reason behind human latency is the need to consult with colleagues to get further information.
UC helps with both of these areas by providing multiple modalities of communication and rich information within the communication. UC integrates various communication systems that a user might already be using and helps those systems work together in real time. For example, UC technology could allow a user to seamlessly collaborate with another person on a project, even if the two users are in separate locations. The user could quickly locate the desired person by accessing an interactive directory, engage in a text messaging session, and then escalate the session to a voice call or even a video call—all within minutes. In another example, an employee receives a call from a customer who wants answers. UC can enable the employee to access a real-time list of available expert colleagues, then make a call that would reach the desired person. This enables the employee to answer the customer faster and eliminate rounds of back-and-forth emails and phone-tag.
Each of the modalities of UC can be extended to a group or many-to-many conversation in addition to one-to-one communication. In the group case, the modes become conferences. Conferences may be scheduled in advance or they may be scheduled ad hoc. In either case, conferences have attributes that the participants use to manage and describe them. Many attributes are shared across conference types. For example, all conferences typically have a membership list denoting people who can join the conference. Additionally conferences may specify whether a system will log the conference (e.g., record it to a file) and whether participants are allowed to upload files and other attachments during the conference.
In organizations, conferences are typically created based on topics, where the topics map to the workflow of the business. Large organizations have many workflows and therefore use many conferences to facilitate communication among teams and other groups of participants. An administrator typically manages the conference, setting attributes such as those described above, and enforcing other restrictions upon the conference, such as who can create a conference, who can attend, and so forth. As the number of conferences grows to be very large, the system becomes difficult to administer. As the number of conferences grows, the administrator becomes overwhelmed and the organization may hire many administrators or hold fewer conferences than would be useful.